MPEG4 licensing : Obviously a Conspiracy !!!
Apple moves to release a full streaming video solution that is essentially...free:
free server, free player, free to encode, etc.
Sony, Philips Electronics, Microsoft, hear the word "FREE" and say "WHAT?" "FREE?"
"Let's see if we can hang this up for a year or so to prevent Apple and upstart companies from running away with the game before we have a chance to completely control it.
i am outraged that the idea of a per minute charge for MPEG4 is even being allowed to be considered.
and if it turns out that they were doing this mainly to thwart companies like Apple from releasing product into the market then that is blatant anti-competitive practice.
free server, free player, free to encode, etc.
Sony, Philips Electronics, Microsoft, hear the word "FREE" and say "WHAT?" "FREE?"
"Let's see if we can hang this up for a year or so to prevent Apple and upstart companies from running away with the game before we have a chance to completely control it.
i am outraged that the idea of a per minute charge for MPEG4 is even being allowed to be considered.
and if it turns out that they were doing this mainly to thwart companies like Apple from releasing product into the market then that is blatant anti-competitive practice.
Comments
Who knows.
People go mad, they become upset, some take the pro side, while others take the con side.
Conflict. Conflict. Conflict.
Battle. Battle. Battle.
That's always ?they? want, to make people fight each other.
Because really, the whole royalty fee thing regarding MPEG-4 makes no sense. How do one keep track of the usage of people streaming their MPEG-4 encoded video? How do one collect those royalty fees? How can one make sure that people won't faked their data so that they pay less? How do one make sure that those people won't be charged more than what they supposed to pay (imagine being charged for U$4.000 for what supposed to be U$4)?
One can do a royalty fee thing on stuff like Real Media, but it's hard to do it on a open standard like MPEG-4.
It is really no surprise that MPEGLA has opted for this rated charging for streaming media... The MPAA and other organizations have been trying to screw over consumers for several years now... Go pick up a copy of 2600 and have a look... there are usually some good corporate-evil-awareness articles.
I also think it is no surprise that everyone, including M$, has started to back off a bit from the whole deal, making MPEGLA sweat just a little bit. I mean, what with the open source movement and all I have in my deepest of beliefs that there will be a free implementation made of something better than even MPEG4. Some people think that without MPEG the world would go dark or something... just plain not true. I could imagine MPEG drying up quick if MPEGLA continues to be greedy bastards!
Remember that a standard only becomes "standard" after wide acceptance and integration, something that WILL NOT occur given a by-the-minute charge.
Ok enough ranting...
microsoft and the others WANT mpeg4 to fail - to be scuttled, so they can have more time and advantage to promote their own proprietary systems that they can charge big money for.
they don't want pissy little Apple giving away the server software, encoder, and player for free and allowing consumers to create and broadcast content freely.
Apple's mpeg4 solution is viewed by them as a threat to profits and the are trying to hobble it if not killit completely.
-Owl